Everyone knows that the best pasta in the world is gnocchi, but what about the best pasta sauce? Sure, pesto is great and bolognese makes a strong claim, but can anyone actually dispute the supremacy of carbonara? It is perfectly fit for an unvegan, and when I paid a visit to Picazzo’s in Phoenix, I couldn’t think of ordering anything else.

The menu described this as having juicy pancetta, which is way of describing pancetta that I had never seen, and peas. Generally I try to avoid peas, but they are really doable in a carbonara sauce because they are covered in the creamy eggy sauce that could probably make my shoe taste good.

Picazzo’s iteration of carbonara was delicious. The base was thick speaghetti-style noodles with enough sauce to cover the whole dish without being overwhelming. Perhaps most important, the “juicy” pancetta was super smoky and flavorful I probably could have just eaten a plate full of the stuff, but then I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of eating that sauce.

I was concerned heading into Picazzo’s because it seemed like a chainy sort of Italian spot, but it turned out that it could churn out some killer Carbonara. Next time someone suggest heading to Picazzo’s for dinner, I’ll be pretty excited to make my way back.